Meme of toolishness
okay. here goes. you guys asked for it, so here it is.10 things I'm a total tool about/for:
1) boxing in movies/tv. more specifically: handwraps. and people looking so goddamn badass. with their tank tops. and then they get sweaty and hit things! and guh. i have no rational reason for loving this so much. I NEVER watch real boxing. it just doesn't interest me. but show me a character wearing handwraps and I am automatically SO into it. like . . . they have pieces of cloth wrapped around their hand. and it gets all contrasty with the color of their skin. and they are about to go willingly get pummeled by someone and pummel someone in return. for SPORT! oooorrrr . . . they are full of anger and other emotional things that they need to take out in a seriously badass way on a punching bag (or another person). and they do it with awesome form fitting, skin displaying clothing! and they're all fit and muscle show-off-y! what could possibly be better!?!?! seriously. the combination of emotion, baddassery, muscles, clothes, and violence is just this perfect combination for me. and like, it automatically puts me in the mindset that these are characters that can take care of shit. that don't need defending. and . . . that's important to me in a character. or at least in a kind of character i get super super attached to. which are obviously the best kind. I could keep going. but instead i'll just leave it at a few examples of things that just GOT to me: UB (obviously), Million Dollar Baby, Girlfight, that scene in chuck where sarah is working a heavy bag. damn.
2) movie scores. I LOVE movie music. and not the random songs with words and stuff - the background orchestral stuff. from tons of movies. but ESPECIALLY action movies. and some tv shows. because not only is it fun and exciting (even though listening to it out loud around anyone not in my immediate family makes me feel like a giant dorkface) but because I have emotional connections with it a lot of time. because I always associate music with some significant moment when I hear it - in RL too. so I'll love a horrible song just because of a time or a person i associate it with. and then with movie soundtracks, I can picture a character i love doing something awesome. or heartbreaking. and that just doesn't get old for me. ever really. so among the soundtracks that i have played over and over and pretty much have memorized are: the rock, gladiator, shawshank redemption, fried green tomatoes, little women (all of those last three are scored by thomas newman, who is fucking AWESOME - he also did the six feet under theme, american beauty, finding nemo, road to perdition and a bunch of other fucking fantasticness), gladiator, pirates of the carribean, lord of the rings, alias, buffy, bsg, chocolat, gettysburg, BSG, the good the bad and the ugly, tuck everlasting. . . and so forth.
3) food prepared for me by someone else. ok, so its not that I don't like cooking. it's just that I LOVE eating out or ordering in. food is just automatically better for me when I get to choose what I want from a long list of selections, sit back and wait, and then have it put in front of me ready to eat. I. . . can hardly even explain it further. and i know it probably doesn't even sound that unusual. maybe it isn't. but just . . . the extent to which i love it and the amount of time i eat out even when I'm almost flat broke is just ridiculous. and I really should know better. but I don't care! it makes me happy in a bizarre and unaccountable way. so I do it anyway! because I'm a little obsessed with food in general anyway. and then restaurants? I just love the variety of going somewhere different all the time and getting different kinds of food. but ALSO the chance to go back and get something that is delicious and perfect and amazing over and over and over again. guh.
4) the musical Wicked. this one has faded somewhat, but still. I KNOW the music really isn't that great. it's far too poppy and flashy and just . . . only about 2 of the songs are really catchy and memorable at first. and the story has been so pared down and oversimplified from the awesomely layered, dark, subtlety of the book. it's been incredibly disnefied. but BUT! after listening to it for the first time 3 years ago, those negative things were all i really saw. and then all of a sudden i randomly listened to it again about 2 months later and DAMN. I could not stop. because at first just those two songs and the absolutely jaw-dropping vocals in them, and a few of the cool harmonies start to get you. and they stay in your head. and you have to listen to it over and over and over again. and THEN suddenly ALL the songs are pretty catchy and awesome, even though a few months ago you were all 'meh.' and ALSO it's pretty much a love story between two girls - whether there are boys thrown in there as an excuse for jealousy or not. I mean really, all the songs and duets that would usually be sung by the romantic leads are songs about/sung by glinda and elphaba. and then it still has some of the residual awesomeness of the book where it turns around the conventional Wizard of Oz story and all of a sudden you're seeing everything from the 'wicked' witch's perspective, and you know what? her perspective seriously kind of rocks.
5) snow. I just looooove snow, ok? it gives me all sorts of joy and contentment and wonder and all that cheesy crap. i don't know if its just residual positive associations from it automatically meaning no school when I was a child, or if its something else. but I just get so happy when its snowing. I smile all the time for no reason. and I love that it slows people down, that things get all quiet and peaceful, and almost reverent. or ... you know, I get reverent. and everything just looks so beautiful just for a little bit. or something. it's beautiful. and then you can do all sorts of fun stuff in it. which I like. but really - it's that first real snow accumulation of the year that I love. I just love to go out walking in it. and I know it eventually gets dirty and slushy and somewhat annoying to slog through. but still. it can be so perfect for just a little while. one of my favorite poems - Stopping by Woods on a Snowy evening (and one of the reasons it IS one of my favorite poems) - does a perfect job of creating a little of that feeling. or it does for me anyway.
(oy. I seriously have to come up with 5 more things? crap.)
6) being a corrector. I'm like ted. I correct everyone. all the time. it's just .. . I can't help it. if I notice someone is wrong, I have to say something. and i turn it into part of the conversation, but I'm sure it's annoying as fuck to other people. and like, as part of that, I also find people making mistake with words and stuff just incredibly amusing. so I just laugh at people all the time. and I SO don't mean it mockingly at ALL. but people probably think i'm totally arrogant and mean. I'm not (usually) though! that's just the kind of thing that makes me laugh! in a . . . camaraderie type way? or something like that.
7) old things. I don't know what the fuck it is, but I just find any object that's more than 100 years old fascinating. and if it's a book or has wrinting? doubly so. like . . . just imagining who might have made it, held it, used it! what it meant to someone, or didn't mean. and then, usually its sat forgotten somewhere - and all of the associations it once had, all the things that made it something even the slightest bit meaningful, those things are mostly gone. sometimes entirely gone. so all you can do is imagine all that stuff. or look for little clues about it. and either marvel at how damn much things have changed since that object was created, or just be baffled by some of the things that are still exactly the same - whether those things are technology, or craftmanship, or social ideas and values. and all of that is at least a little tied into everyday objects touched my people centuries and millenia ago. and that's just fucking cool. and it makes me go on long, ridiculous reveries like the one I just went on, generally boring other people to tears.
plus, on a superficial and ridiculous level . . . old things can make for awesome adventure stories in the movies and in books. they can trigger crazy and epic quests and fights! like in indiana jones. and so forth. you know what i'm talking about.
8) the movie Bad Attitudes. alright, so I'm pretty sure no one in their right mind knows about this movie. it was this 90s made for tv movie that had ethan embrey in it and pretty much no one else famous at ALL about some kids who escaped from an attitude adjustment bootcamp group before they were supposed to leave at the airport, and stole one of their father's planes. meanwhile, not only is this kid's father preparing to immediately blow up the plane for the insurance money, but the plane is ALSO in the process of being hijacked by this ridiculous russian couple. so needless to say, the kids have to diffuse the bomb AND somehow subdue the hijackers, and THEN land the plane even though none of them knows how too. and it all ends with these kids getting honored by the mayor of the city for their bravery. it was just . . . so stupid and I loved it so much, and I will probably never ever get to see it again because I don't think it even exists any longer. but it was awesome, and little me just loved it to pieces.
9) Don't Stop Believing by Journey. this song is my cell phone ring. it is also the theme song of my college hockey team and all of the drunken awesomeness that we shared. we sang it at parties, and we rocked out to it from the van speakers and played the guitar parts on the hockey sticks. it is just awesomely sing alongable and it will never get old for me. never. i'm gonna hold on to that feel-ley-ee-ey-ee-yeng. got it?
10) making that's what she said and your mom jokes. so, I'm pretty sure most people stop thinking these are funny after about the age of 16, but fuck it if I don't still find them endlessly entertaining. because someone will be going along having a perfectly normal, mature conversation and then BLAM! you just take it to this incredibly juvenile ridiculous wrong place. and they are just . . . baffled by it. because really, I should be over it by now. but that just makes it more surprising to them when it happens and therefore even funnier to me. oh, and it's even more fun if you can personalize the mom joke by using the actual first name of someone's mom. so like, my friend was talking about a graphic novel? my response: 'oh yeah? well, edna was both graphic AND novel last night.' heh.
good fucking lord. that was surprisingly difficult. who knew toolishness could require that much thought, self examination, and self absorption?
1) boxing in movies/tv. more specifically: handwraps. and people looking so goddamn badass. with their tank tops. and then they get sweaty and hit things! and guh. i have no rational reason for loving this so much. I NEVER watch real boxing. it just doesn't interest me. but show me a character wearing handwraps and I am automatically SO into it. like . . . they have pieces of cloth wrapped around their hand. and it gets all contrasty with the color of their skin. and they are about to go willingly get pummeled by someone and pummel someone in return. for SPORT! oooorrrr . . . they are full of anger and other emotional things that they need to take out in a seriously badass way on a punching bag (or another person). and they do it with awesome form fitting, skin displaying clothing! and they're all fit and muscle show-off-y! what could possibly be better!?!?! seriously. the combination of emotion, baddassery, muscles, clothes, and violence is just this perfect combination for me. and like, it automatically puts me in the mindset that these are characters that can take care of shit. that don't need defending. and . . . that's important to me in a character. or at least in a kind of character i get super super attached to. which are obviously the best kind. I could keep going. but instead i'll just leave it at a few examples of things that just GOT to me: UB (obviously), Million Dollar Baby, Girlfight, that scene in chuck where sarah is working a heavy bag. damn.
2) movie scores. I LOVE movie music. and not the random songs with words and stuff - the background orchestral stuff. from tons of movies. but ESPECIALLY action movies. and some tv shows. because not only is it fun and exciting (even though listening to it out loud around anyone not in my immediate family makes me feel like a giant dorkface) but because I have emotional connections with it a lot of time. because I always associate music with some significant moment when I hear it - in RL too. so I'll love a horrible song just because of a time or a person i associate it with. and then with movie soundtracks, I can picture a character i love doing something awesome. or heartbreaking. and that just doesn't get old for me. ever really. so among the soundtracks that i have played over and over and pretty much have memorized are: the rock, gladiator, shawshank redemption, fried green tomatoes, little women (all of those last three are scored by thomas newman, who is fucking AWESOME - he also did the six feet under theme, american beauty, finding nemo, road to perdition and a bunch of other fucking fantasticness), gladiator, pirates of the carribean, lord of the rings, alias, buffy, bsg, chocolat, gettysburg, BSG, the good the bad and the ugly, tuck everlasting. . . and so forth.
Click to view3) food prepared for me by someone else. ok, so its not that I don't like cooking. it's just that I LOVE eating out or ordering in. food is just automatically better for me when I get to choose what I want from a long list of selections, sit back and wait, and then have it put in front of me ready to eat. I. . . can hardly even explain it further. and i know it probably doesn't even sound that unusual. maybe it isn't. but just . . . the extent to which i love it and the amount of time i eat out even when I'm almost flat broke is just ridiculous. and I really should know better. but I don't care! it makes me happy in a bizarre and unaccountable way. so I do it anyway! because I'm a little obsessed with food in general anyway. and then restaurants? I just love the variety of going somewhere different all the time and getting different kinds of food. but ALSO the chance to go back and get something that is delicious and perfect and amazing over and over and over again. guh.
4) the musical Wicked. this one has faded somewhat, but still. I KNOW the music really isn't that great. it's far too poppy and flashy and just . . . only about 2 of the songs are really catchy and memorable at first. and the story has been so pared down and oversimplified from the awesomely layered, dark, subtlety of the book. it's been incredibly disnefied. but BUT! after listening to it for the first time 3 years ago, those negative things were all i really saw. and then all of a sudden i randomly listened to it again about 2 months later and DAMN. I could not stop. because at first just those two songs and the absolutely jaw-dropping vocals in them, and a few of the cool harmonies start to get you. and they stay in your head. and you have to listen to it over and over and over again. and THEN suddenly ALL the songs are pretty catchy and awesome, even though a few months ago you were all 'meh.' and ALSO it's pretty much a love story between two girls - whether there are boys thrown in there as an excuse for jealousy or not. I mean really, all the songs and duets that would usually be sung by the romantic leads are songs about/sung by glinda and elphaba. and then it still has some of the residual awesomeness of the book where it turns around the conventional Wizard of Oz story and all of a sudden you're seeing everything from the 'wicked' witch's perspective, and you know what? her perspective seriously kind of rocks.
5) snow. I just looooove snow, ok? it gives me all sorts of joy and contentment and wonder and all that cheesy crap. i don't know if its just residual positive associations from it automatically meaning no school when I was a child, or if its something else. but I just get so happy when its snowing. I smile all the time for no reason. and I love that it slows people down, that things get all quiet and peaceful, and almost reverent. or ... you know, I get reverent. and everything just looks so beautiful just for a little bit. or something. it's beautiful. and then you can do all sorts of fun stuff in it. which I like. but really - it's that first real snow accumulation of the year that I love. I just love to go out walking in it. and I know it eventually gets dirty and slushy and somewhat annoying to slog through. but still. it can be so perfect for just a little while. one of my favorite poems - Stopping by Woods on a Snowy evening (and one of the reasons it IS one of my favorite poems) - does a perfect job of creating a little of that feeling. or it does for me anyway.
(oy. I seriously have to come up with 5 more things? crap.)
6) being a corrector. I'm like ted. I correct everyone. all the time. it's just .. . I can't help it. if I notice someone is wrong, I have to say something. and i turn it into part of the conversation, but I'm sure it's annoying as fuck to other people. and like, as part of that, I also find people making mistake with words and stuff just incredibly amusing. so I just laugh at people all the time. and I SO don't mean it mockingly at ALL. but people probably think i'm totally arrogant and mean. I'm not (usually) though! that's just the kind of thing that makes me laugh! in a . . . camaraderie type way? or something like that.
7) old things. I don't know what the fuck it is, but I just find any object that's more than 100 years old fascinating. and if it's a book or has wrinting? doubly so. like . . . just imagining who might have made it, held it, used it! what it meant to someone, or didn't mean. and then, usually its sat forgotten somewhere - and all of the associations it once had, all the things that made it something even the slightest bit meaningful, those things are mostly gone. sometimes entirely gone. so all you can do is imagine all that stuff. or look for little clues about it. and either marvel at how damn much things have changed since that object was created, or just be baffled by some of the things that are still exactly the same - whether those things are technology, or craftmanship, or social ideas and values. and all of that is at least a little tied into everyday objects touched my people centuries and millenia ago. and that's just fucking cool. and it makes me go on long, ridiculous reveries like the one I just went on, generally boring other people to tears.
plus, on a superficial and ridiculous level . . . old things can make for awesome adventure stories in the movies and in books. they can trigger crazy and epic quests and fights! like in indiana jones. and so forth. you know what i'm talking about.
8) the movie Bad Attitudes. alright, so I'm pretty sure no one in their right mind knows about this movie. it was this 90s made for tv movie that had ethan embrey in it and pretty much no one else famous at ALL about some kids who escaped from an attitude adjustment bootcamp group before they were supposed to leave at the airport, and stole one of their father's planes. meanwhile, not only is this kid's father preparing to immediately blow up the plane for the insurance money, but the plane is ALSO in the process of being hijacked by this ridiculous russian couple. so needless to say, the kids have to diffuse the bomb AND somehow subdue the hijackers, and THEN land the plane even though none of them knows how too. and it all ends with these kids getting honored by the mayor of the city for their bravery. it was just . . . so stupid and I loved it so much, and I will probably never ever get to see it again because I don't think it even exists any longer. but it was awesome, and little me just loved it to pieces.
9) Don't Stop Believing by Journey. this song is my cell phone ring. it is also the theme song of my college hockey team and all of the drunken awesomeness that we shared. we sang it at parties, and we rocked out to it from the van speakers and played the guitar parts on the hockey sticks. it is just awesomely sing alongable and it will never get old for me. never. i'm gonna hold on to that feel-ley-ee-ey-ee-yeng. got it?
10) making that's what she said and your mom jokes. so, I'm pretty sure most people stop thinking these are funny after about the age of 16, but fuck it if I don't still find them endlessly entertaining. because someone will be going along having a perfectly normal, mature conversation and then BLAM! you just take it to this incredibly juvenile ridiculous wrong place. and they are just . . . baffled by it. because really, I should be over it by now. but that just makes it more surprising to them when it happens and therefore even funnier to me. oh, and it's even more fun if you can personalize the mom joke by using the actual first name of someone's mom. so like, my friend was talking about a graphic novel? my response: 'oh yeah? well, edna was both graphic AND novel last night.' heh.
good fucking lord. that was surprisingly difficult. who knew toolishness could require that much thought, self examination, and self absorption?